The U.S. Senate voted last week to extend the USA PATRIOT Act until early February to give its members more time to debate a full extension of the sweeping investigatory powers granted by the law.

The move pushes further discussions of the law into January, when the debate over the Bush Administration's spying program will likely color arguments. The USA PATRIOT Act, which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, has been criticized by civil libertarians as a threat to privacy.

Since its passage in 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act has been praised by law enforcement officers and criticized by rights activists. U.S. Senators have previously proposed limitations to the act. Last year, a judge tossed out some of the law's provisions for secretive searches of telephone and Internet records, a decision that was appealed earlier this year.

Without the extension, the law would have expired at the end of this week.